If You Ever Come Back
by xWinterDreams
Summary: Mark hadn't seen Lexie since she left Seattle two years ago, but now she's back and his feelings are still the same, but she's moved on.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first ever GA FF and I'm really nervous, so tell me what you think.**

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><p>"What's the case?" Mark asked Callie as they walked down the hallway.<p>

"Felix Walker, I performed surgery on his knee. He requested you, I have no idea why." Callie passed him the chart and carried on down the hallway.

Mark shrugged, pushing open the door to the patient's room. "What I can I do for you, Mr. Walker?" He asked, looking down at the chart quickly before he looked up at the young man sitting up in his bed.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked, confused.

"Mark Sloan, head of Plastic Surgery. I was told you asked for me."

"He didn't ask for you. I did."

Mark turned around, and Lexie Grey was standing in the doorway.

Two years. That was how long it had been since he had seen her, since she had left Seattle to do her fellowship. "Dr. Grey." His eyes locked with hers and he couldn't bring himself to tear them away.

"I wanted to talk to you." She said having huge difficulty in trying not to stare into those blue eyes, but being very aware of her boyfriend lying behind Mark. "If you can spare a few moments."

He breathed out heavily, and waited until he was sure that he could muster a casual tone of indifference. "I don't see why not." It had been two years since he'd last seen her, even longer since they'd actually been together, but he was lying to himself when he tried to convince himself that she didn't matter to him.

He had tried moving on with various relationships, some real and some that were just meaningless. He had tried, but he still thought about her and he still missed her. He still loved her.

Lexie walked past him and she came so close that he could smell her hair, and her arm accidentally brushed against his. For just a moment he was brought back to the time when they were together, when they were happy.

But it was only a moment, and then she was at the bed and she was kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. "I'll come back soon, Felix." Lexie murmured to him softly, and in an instant the illusion was shattered and old wounds from the past felt fresh.

* * *

><p>"Does Meredith know that you're here?" He asked.<p>

"No. Nobody does. I didn't know I was coming until a few days ago, Felix had to come here for a work thing, and then there was the car accident…"

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, I just got a few cuts." Lexie shrugged. She was staring intently down at the ground, unwillingly for her eyes to get lost in his again, but she reluctantly looked up at him. "It's been two years, Mark."

"Yeah, well that was your choice, remember? Now, if you just want to catch up, maybe some other time because I have patients."

"I'm coming back, Mark. I got offered a job, that's why I'm here. Not because of Felix, and I… I just thought you should know."

"Congratulations. I have to go."

Lexie sighed, staring after him as she watched him leave. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't that.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for the lovely reviews.**

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><p>"Were you expecting a warm welcome?" Meredith asked Lexie.<p>

"No. I don't know. I didn't really want to think about it. I just hoped it might be normal-ish. It was like Mark wanted to be cold but like he still cares."

"But you're dating Felix, right?"

"Yeah. I'm just saying, I worry about Mark sometimes; I want him to be happy. That's all." She said, her voice wavering a little more than she would've liked. "But Felix is amazing, I love him, Mer." She smiled at her sister. "Which sucks, because I don't know what's going to happen now, I can't just expect him to pick up his life and move to Seattle for me."

"I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."

"You're sounding happy, how's everything with Derek going?" She asked, rather relieved at being able to change the subject. Lexie wanted to put off thinking about her and Felix's future for as long as possible, and steering the conversation away from herself meant steering it away from Mark. Being back here brought everything back to the surface, and she didn't want to be thinking about that right now either.

"It's perfect. I've only told Derek and Cristina this, but I'm pregnant." Meredith grinned.

"Oh my god, congratulations!" She giggled excitedly. "That's really great news," Lexie sighed softly.

"Everything okay?" Meredith asked with concern.

"I'm fine, I just… Missed it here more than I realized. It's good to be home."

* * *

><p>"So you didn't know that Lexie was coming?" Mark asked Derek at their table in the cafeteria.<p>

He sighed. "For the fifth time Mark, no. I didn't know she was coming and I didn't know she was being offered a job."

"Did you know that she has a boyfriend?" Mark said, pretty sure he already knew the answer to that question.

"Yeah, I knew that. I thought it'd be easier for you if you didn't know, especially because Lexie wasn't around." Derek explained to his friend.

"I get it." He sighed. "I'm glad Lexie's here, really. Mer's pregnant and she misses her sister, it's good. But I didn't think I'd feel like _this_. I haven't moved on to another woman, but I thought that when I saw her again it'd be different. I'd be different."

"And are you?" Derek asked.

"She's different. She's happy and in a relationship. But I don't think that I've moved on as much as I thought I had. I'm in love with her, and now I'm going to have to deal with seeing her every day, and the worst thing is… She's moved on."

"Don't you want that? It's been so long since you were together, don't you want her to be happy?"

"I do – that's all I've ever wanted for her. That's just a lot easier to say when I'm not seeing her with someone else." Mark said. "If you asked me a week ago if I was happy, I would've said yes. I have an amazing career, and I have a family. I have Sofia. My life is almost perfect, and usually that's enough. But now that I'm going to see her everyday, it's a constant reminder of what I've lost."

"What's going on?" Callie sat down with Arizona, looking at the serious expressions on their faces.

"Lexie's here." Mark muttered.

"Little Grey?"

"Yeah, she – " He stopped, noticing Meredith and Lexie walking into the cafeteria.

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><p>"Aren't you going to come sit down?" Meredith asked Lexie who was standing by the door to the cafeteria, hesitating.<p>

"Oh, well…" She looked over to the table where she could see Cristina, Alex, Jackson and April. Like old times. Then her eyes travelled across the room to the table where she could see Callie, Arizona, Derek and finally Mark. He was trying and failing to subtly look over in her direction without her noticing. "I need to see the chief, and I haven't seen Felix since this morning, so I'm gonna go."

"So it has nothing to do with Mark?" Meredith asked.

She sighed. "Just… tell them I said hi, and I'll see you before I leave, okay?"

"Okay." Meredith said. "But I was thinking about that, Felix has to stay in the hospital, right? So why don't you stay at my place?"

"In the dream house? I have never stayed there before, and it'd be nice not to be by myself. I'll meet you when your shift ends."


	3. Chapter 3

Lexie pushed open the door and walked into Felix's room. He was watching television but turned it off as she entered, and she held up the brown paper bag in her hand. "I got you a muffin from the coffee shop down the street to try and apologise for being a bad girlfriend today."

Felix laughed. "It's fine, you said you might be busy today. Besides, I have daytime television to entertain myself. It's not very often I get to just lie in bed all day, you know."

Lexie smiled and sat on the side of his bed. "How is your knee? Do you need any more pain meds? And have you done any physical therapy today?"

"Lex, it's sweet and adorable that you worry about me, and I love seeing you be a doctor. But I have a doctor, and nurses and a physical therapist that can worry about that. I just need you to be my girlfriend."

"Okay, fine. What are we watching?" She asked, lying down beside him and looking at the tv.

"Oh, are you sure? 'Cause if there's still stuff that you need to do, really, I'm fine." He said.

"I've talked to Mark and Meredith, and I went to see the chief, so there's nothing else that I need to do. I don't actually start work until tomorrow, so what are we going to watch?"

"I've been watching classic movies," Felix said, turning the tv back on. "You know how I love those."

Lexie smiled and rested her head against Felix's shoulder.

* * *

><p>"So, could you babysit for me and Arizona tonight?" Callie asked Mark as they came out of a patient's room that they were checking up on. "Because we were thinking that – Mark? Mark, are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" She looked back at her friend who was staring at a window of another room, seemingly oblivious.<p>

"Mm, yeah." He murmured, not really having any idea what Callie just said.

"What is it?" She walked beside him and looked where he was looking. "Oh." Callie said in realisation. Lexie was lying beside Felix with his arm around her, and she was laughing at something that he'd said.

"I used to make her laugh like that."

"Come on, Mark." Callie said. He didn't reply. Sighing, she moved to stand directly in front of him. "Mark, this isn't helping you. We should just go."

"But…"

"Mark."

"Fine." He agreed, walking down the hallway with Callie. "So he's your patient, isn't he?"

"Are you really going to ask me to tell you information about my patient just so that you can know more about Grey's boyfriend?" Callie asked.

"Just give me something, anything. Please?"

She sighed. "He seems like a pretty nice guy."

"That's it?" Mark asked.

"I don't know what you want me to say, I met him yesterday and for a lot of the time I've been with him he's been asleep. He's a journalist."

"Is he moving here with Lexie?"

"Mark, if there was anything else that I knew, I'd tell you. I don't know anything. You're just going to have to talk to Lexie, or you know, spy on her through Meredith."

"Fine. So, you were saying something about babysitting before?"

"Yeah, can you babysit tonight?"

"Of course I can," Mark smiled. He didn't have Lexie, but he had Sofia. He had the family that he had wanted for so long, and that was enough for now. He hoped it was enough.

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><p>"Are you going home now?" Derek asked Mark, wanting to make sure his friend was okay before he went home with Meredith.<p>

"Callie's with Sofia right now and Arizona doesn't get out of surgery for an hour, so I figured I'd go to Joe's."

Derek frowned. "Do I need to worry about you?" He asked with concern.

"I'm fine, Derek. I just need a distraction… From today."

"Okay, only have one drink if you're looking after Sofia."

"Yes _dad._" Mark rolled his eyes. "You can stop worrying about me, I'm only going to have one drink. Go home, Derek."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Mark said, watching Derek leave.

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><p>They arrived at their house, and Meredith opened the door for Lexie. "Welcome to our new home." She grinned and led her sister inside. "Do you want a tour?"<p>

"Of course."

Meredith showed Lexie around the house as they talked and laughed, but her thoughts ended up drifting towards the end. She started thinking about Mark, wanting to know more about how he was, what he was doing, but unable to ask.

She wasn't supposed to be asking about him. She wasn't supposed to care.

Lexie thought about Felix as well. He was funny, great, and she loved him. But was it enough for her to ask him to move here for her? And if she did ask him, would he say yes? Felix would never be the cause of the kind of pain Mark had caused, he would never just forget about her. But the way she had felt when they were happy... Lexie smiled at the thought. Felix wasn't Mark and he would never make her feel like Mark did, but that wasn't neccesarily a bad thing. Felix was a different person, he made her happy in a different way.

She knew that she didn't want to end things with him now, and they could figure things out somehow.

"Lexie? Lexie?" Meredith said, interrupting her thoughts.

Lexie looked up; startled, realising she hadn't said anything for a while. "Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Are you okay?" Meredith frowned at her sister.

"Uh, I-I'm fine. I'm just distracted. But I'm fine." Lexie said, unsure who she was trying to convince more, Meredith or herself.

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><p>Mark sat at the bar and Joe placed a scotch in front of him. "Thanks," he nodded to Joe. He let out a heavy sigh and let his head drop into his hands. When he woke up this morning, it had been a normal day. A day of routine surgeries and coming home again to see his daughter. He hadn't expected any of this.<p>

"You sound like you've had a rough day."

"Yeah, I – " He looked up at the woman that was now sitting beside him, a woman he didn't recognise. She had soft, brown eyes and long, black hair. He also noticed that she had a nice figure, it wasn't quite enough to distract him from thinking about Lexie, but it was nice. "It's just been a very long day."

"You could buy me a drink. Talk about it." She gave him a flirty smile.

He chuckled. "Fun as that sounds, I really can't stay. Maybe some other time." He finished his scotch, gave her a smile, and left the bar.

Truthfully, Callie didn't need him to be there for thirty minutes, but he wasn't in the mood tonight. He _could _flirt with this woman, take her home, and then he would never see her again and he wouldn't even remember her name. But Mark was just bored of this endless cycle. He needed something different.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks again, for the reviews. I love hearing what you think, and any suggestions are completely welcome.**

**And credit goes to ABC and Shonda for one line in this chapter.  
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><p>The next day, Lexie got to the hospital twenty minutes early so that she could see Felix before she got busy with patients and surgeries.<p>

She was just leaving his room when her pager started to go off. Ten minutes later she was down in the ER, slipping on a yellow gown and running out to the ambulance bay. "What have we got?"

"Burn victim."

She looked up in realisation; she hadn't noticed that it was Mark standing there. "Oh, okay." She didn't really know what else to say, so she fell silent. He was looking straight ahead, waiting for the ambulance, so she sneaked a look at him for a hint of some kind of emotion. Anything that might answer one of her many questions about how he was.

She had this desperation to know, but even if she did ask, she wasn't sure what answer she really wanted. Lexie didn't know if she wanted to know that he had moved on completely and he was happy without her, or… She just didn't know.

Mark turned his head to look at her and she quickly averted her eyes, but not quickly enough that he wouldn't notice. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. He felt the need to fill the awkward silence that was also very tense. But if he did say something, he thought his emotions might betray him and she'd hear it in his voice. Instead he just shut his mouth and looked straight ahead.

The ambulance would be here soon, and even though working with Lexie wasn't going to be easy, he would at least be able to focus his mind on the patient. Then he would be fine, as long as he could focus all of his thoughts, his tension, his emotions with Lexie coming back, into his job.

"How – " Lexie wanted to fill the silence also, but had no idea what she was planning on saying. She felt uncomfortable under his cool and calculating gaze as he waited for her to say something, and she searched for a safe topic. "How's Sofia?" She blurted out because it was the first thing that came to her mind.

Mark was trying his very best not to show any emotion, he really didn't want her to know that he hadn't moved on when she had. But at the mention of his daughter, he couldn't help the smile that came onto his lips. It was partly out of his love and adoration for Sofia, but also in amusement because of her random outburst because she seemed to just need to say _something. _Anything. It reminded of when she would just come out and say such random things, or when she would ramble, and even though he usually had no idea what she was talking about exactly, he loved it.

He paused for a moment, making sure that he wouldn't laugh when he spoke. "I'm amazed by her every day." He said, and then he couldn't help it – he laughed.

"Are you laughing at me?" She asked, a smile falling onto her lips.

It was like for just a moment, all of the years didn't matter. There was a moment of teasing friendship like they used to be when they were happy. Then they could hear the sound of sirens, and the ambulance's came around.

Mark coughed and walked forward to the ambulance and in an instant it was like a wall of ice shot up between them. They went with the patient as other ambulances started to come and more doctors appeared.

They worked on the patient together in the trauma room and then took him to surgery. Mark only talked to her professionally when it was absolutely necessary. In the end he wasn't even cold – he was just emotionless. Lexie was pretty sure that was just worse.

"Mark?" She demanded when the came out of the OR.

"I can't Lexie – I just can't." He walked off leaving her standing there staring after him in confusion.

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><p>Lexie slumped in her chair, sitting across the table from Cristina and Meredith in the cafeteria. "That was one of the worst few hours ever."<p>

"What happened?" Meredith asked.

"Mark. Mark happened." She sighed.

"Thinking about Mark again?" Meredith asked, giving her a look that made her feel uneasy.

"We were working together today, actually." She said. "And there was this moment, barely, but a moment of friendliness. Then he just reverted back and became cold."

"Oh." Meredith said.

"That's not all, at first he was cold. But then he just became emotionless. Uncaring. I didn't think we'd just be best friends, but what have I done to deserve this?"

"You're just that good Little Grey. There's no getting over you." Cristina said mockingly.

"You're not gonna like this, but Cristina may have a point." Meredith said.

Lexie stared at her. "Seriously? You're kidding, right?"

Meredith smiled. "I just mean that I think Mark wants to move on. That before he had probably _thought _he had moved on to a certain extent. But I don't think he's really moved as much as you say that you have."

"Ugh. I have to – I'll see you later." She got up and left the cafeteria. That didn't make sense, it could be true. What Meredith was saying, it just couldn't be. But hadn't she just been wondering this very morning if he'd moved on or not?

Thinking about what Meredith had said, Lexie realised what she hadn't caught on to Meredith saying, because she was distracted. _But I don't think he's really moved on as much as you say that you have._

_As much as you say that you have? _What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was her sister really saying, _implying _that she hadn't moved on from Mark? That she was still _in _love with him? Because that was just, that was… Ridiculous was what it was. Completely ridiculous.

She frowned, because it bothered her how much she had been thinking about her ex-boyfriend today and yesterday, when she had a boyfriend. It _really _bothered her that it bothered her, though.

But it was just being back in Seattle, right? Because Mark was her history, and the memories where just come back to her, was all. It was nothing more than that. Yes, that was surely it, she reasoned with herself.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the week went by pretty routinely. Lexie visited Felix when she could and did a lot of surgeries, but nothing particularly spectacular. She had been spending a lot of time with Meredith and Derek, and catching up with her old friends.

Mark seemed to be avoiding her, which she was partially relieved about, she didn't really feel like seeing him right now, but it made her kind of annoyed. He hadn't given her any kind of explanation for his random actions, and now he was avoiding her? They didn't have to work on any other cases together either, so the only time they saw each other were glimpses from a distance, and they both looked away and walked in the opposite direction.

Lexie didn't give much thought to Mark, if he wanted to avoid her, then she wasn't going to think about him, she would just let him. Instead, she concentrated on work, and looked forward to when Felix would be discharged from the hospital.

"See?" He said, on the day that he was to be discharged. "Now I can walk with my crutches, and soon I'll be fine and I can start working again."

"Right." Lexie said, the smile falling from her lips. So far she had carefully continued avoiding bringing up the subject of them and what would happen when his knee recovered.

"Does that expression on your face mean we're finally going to talk about what's going to happen with you and me?" Felix asked.

"Wh-what?"

"Come on, Lex. Anytime we even come close to that subject you immediately change the subject. You've been avoiding this since you got the call from Chief Webber."

"I thought I was being subtle." Lexie said sheepishly.

"I thought I'd let you bring it up when you were ready," Felix said. "But it'd be good to talk about it. To know."

Lexie sighed. She had been putting this off for as long as possible, and now there was just no avoiding it. She had to face this. "This is my home here. My friends, my family – I can't leave that behind again. I just… can't. I'm back for good."

"I understand," Felix nodded, easing himself down with his crutches so that he was sitting on his bed. "Your life is here. I just really need to know if you want me to be apart of that life."

Lexie walked over and sat down on the bed beside Felix. "I do, Felix. I really, really do. Trust me on that. But I can't just expect you to move all the way – "

Felix kissed her. "That's all I needed to know. Because as long as you want me to be around, I will be. I love you, Lexie."

A wide smile spread across her face, and she put one hand on his cheek and she kissed him. He ran his hand through her hair, and the kiss deepened.

There was a cough at the door, and Lexie pulled away quickly and looked at the door. Callie was standing there with a small awkward smile.

"Sorry to… interrupt. I just need to give Felix a quick exam and talk to him about the recovery, and then he's free to go." She said.

"Okay, well I need to check up on a patient, and then I'll be back to take you home." Lexie said.

"So it's really alright with Meredith and Derek that I stay there?" Felix asked. "They seem great, but we did only just meet. I don't want to impose."

"They insisted. Besides, I love you, so they'll love you." She stood up and walked over to the door. "Okay, I'll be back."

* * *

><p>The elevator doors opened, and looking down at her phone, Lexie walked inside. She put away her phone and looked up to see Mark, just as the elevator doors closed. <em>Damn. <em>Even though she was a annoyed that he was avoiding her and she wanted an explanation for his behaviour, she didn't really feel like being in a confined space with him right now.

She was in a _good _mood. And whenever she had been around Mark lately, or when she had thought about him even, it always left her feeling confused, upset or annoyed. Lexie wanted to stay in a good mood. So acting civil, she reached over and pressed the button for the floor that she wanted to go to.

Mark averted his eyes and took a step backwards, as if her accidentally brushing her arm against would just be the worst thing in the world. She started to feel really annoyed, and all of a sudden she just couldn't help herself.

"Seriously, what the _hell _is your problem, Mark?"

"I don't want to do this right now, Grey."

"Yeah? I don't care, because I do want to do this right now. I want to know what your problem is. I want to know why you go from being cold one minute, to being nice the next, and then acting like I'm so unbearable you can't even be around me. So, what is it, Mark? What's your problem?"

The elevator doors opened and Mark's pager started to go off. He looked at her for a moment, and then he just walked straight past her without saying a word.

"Unbelievable. He's unbelievable." She muttered irritably, walking out of the elevator.

"Talking to yourself?"

She looked up at Jackson standing there. "It's just… it's Mark." Lexie shook her head. "He's being an ass."

"Ah. The usual then."

Lexie smiled a small smile. "Pretty much."

"Well I've just been looking for him, actually. We're meant to be working together today, and I can't seem to find him."

"Oh. He was just paged." She shrugged. "I think he might've been heading down to the ER."

"Thanks." He smiled. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I have a patient and then I'm taking Felix home. You should go, find Mark."

* * *

><p>"What is it?" Mark asked, walking over to Owen in the ER.<p>

"Male, mid-fifties, has a cut on his face." He said, handing him the chart. "Wouldn't let the resident touch him, said if anyone was going anywhere near him with that needle it was going to be a professional."

"I see. I'll handle it." Mark said, walking over to the patient's bed. He got over there, and he almost did a double take. The woman standing beside his bed was the woman from the bar that night. Maybe it really was a good thing that he didn't go home with her that night. He did notice that her black hair was done up today, and that she was wearing a white blouse and a black skirt that was –

_No. _Mark stopped himself before his mind went any further. She was this man's _wife. _His wife. It might not have mattered to her, but it mattered to him. Even though she was way too young, and way to attractive for _this _guy…

"Hello Mr. Matthews. I'm Mark Sloan, Head of Plastic Surgery." He said, sitting down in front of him.

He nodded and eyed Mark suspiciously, but made no complaint when he started cleaning the wound.

"Mrs. Matthews," Mark said, glancing at the woman for a moment. "Have you got yourself checked out by a doctor?"

"No, I haven't."

"Even if there's no physical damage, you could've still been injured." He said, injecting the needle into Mr. Matthews face.

"I haven't been checked out because I wasn't in the accident, Dr. Sloan. And I'm not his wife, he's my client."

"So you're a lawyer," he said, suturing the cut and thinking about the fact that this man didn't call any family or friends to his bedside, but his lawyer.

"And you're a doctor." She said.

Mark was almost finished up working on the cut, and looked at Mr. Matthews, who didn't seem to be paying any attention to the exchange between Mark and this mysterious woman. Instead, he was going between looking around the ER, and eyeing Mark while he was fixing up his cut. He seemed like he was wary of him, like he didn't like doctors very much.

"There you go, Mr. Matthews, I'm all done." Mark took off his gloves and stood up. "Someone should be over soon with your discharge papers."

"There's nothing else?" He asked a little irritably.

"Nothing else. You're free to go." Mark said, giving him a smile and walking away.

"Dr. Sloan?"

He turned around, and looked at the woman he still didn't know the name of. "Problem?"

"No problem. Just, take this. Call me." She slipped a piece of paper into his hand and walked back to her client.

Mark looked down at the piece of paper. There was a number, and above it her name.

_Alyssa._

"Sloan?"

He looked up at Jackson, and he put the piece of paper back in his pocket. "Avery. Come with me."


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't even know why I still have her number," Mark said to Callie. "I'm probably not even going to use it." He said.

"I think you should call her." Callie said.

"Really? Why?"

"I'm not suggesting that your cycle of sleeping with random woman is a good thing, or even healthy. But usually you would've called her already. So what's the hesitation?"

Mark frowned, because he couldn't help but admit that Callie was right. "I don't know, I just… I don't want to sleep around anymore. It's becoming harder and harder to bury my feelings with sex."

"So don't sleep around." Callie said simply.

"What do you mean?" He stared at her blankly.

She laughed. "Don't sleep around. Ask her out on a date and don't sleep with her immediately. Get to know her, see if you have things in common." Callie said. "That's the only way you're ever going to move on."

"Hmm," he said, watching Callie leave the attending's lounge thoughtfully. He thought about the fact that his hesitation might have something to do with the fact that Lexie was around. It wasn't like his feelings for her had changed at all, they were just more obvious to him now, and harder to ignore. But as he started to think about Lexie, he started thinking about what she was probably doing right now. He had heard from Callie that Lexie's boyfriend had been discharged today, and they were probably together right now at Derek's house.

He reached into his pocket for his phone, and dialled Alyssa's number.

* * *

><p>"Want to grab a drink?" Derek asked Mark and Owen at the end of their shift. "Meredith's still working, and so is Cristina." He said.<p>

Mark thought silently that Derek probably wasn't mentioning that he wasn't going home yet either to give Lexie and Felix some time alone. "Can't tonight." He smiled at them. "I have a date."

"A date?" Derek arched his eyebrows.

"Don't sound so surprised." Mark said.

Derek laughed. "I'm not, I'm just more used to you getting drinks with women at Joe's… But you're going on a date, that's great."

"Good for you," Owen added.

"Well, we have reservations," Mark said. "So I should be going."

"You're not even going to tell us who it is?" Derek asked.

"Maybe tomorrow, if the date goes well." He said.

"Feeling a little rusty, Sloan?" Derek teased his friend.

Mark looked at him like he was crazy. "There is no such thing as Mark Sloan being rusty. It's going to be the best date she's _ever _been on." He said with his usual cockiness.

Shaking his head, Derek watched Mark leave. "So, Joe's?" He asked Owen.

"Of course, Cristina and Teddy won't be out of surgery for a while."

* * *

><p>"You look amazing," Mark said to Alyssa as they sat down at their table. She was wearing a dark purple blouse, black jeans and black boots. She was looking so good that he had to force himself not to stare. "But I want to know how you got reservations at this place in under two hours. It's usually almost impossible to do that a week in advance, let alone a few hours."<p>

"I have my ways," she smiled mysteriously. "So, you're a plastic surgeon." She said. "You must be a pretty good."

He chuckled. "Why do you say that?"

"Because in my field of work you know all the names of the plastic surgeons that screw up face lifts and botch boob jobs. Not that those people are really my kind of clientele."

"Well, face lifts and boob jobs aren't my only kind of patients. I save lives. I reattach baby's arms, heal burn victims, and reconstruct people's faces that have been in accidents. Besides, I _never _botch surgeries."

"You're also modest," she smiled at him good-naturedly.

Mark had never been the kind of person for serious relationships. Before Lexie, Addison had been the only other serious relationship he'd ever been in, and he couldn't even be committed then. He had just never been the kind of guy that stayed with one girl for any length of time before Lexie. Then after Lexie, he had just been too hurt and he missed her too much to even try very hard.

So he wasn't used to feeling like this very often. But it was so easy talking with Alyssa, and he wasn't just flirting with her. They both talked about their jobs, their family and friends, their interests, and it was like there wasn't a moment where the conversation stopped.

"Were you born in Seattle?" He asked.

She nodded. "But I went to Harvard to study law." She said.

Harvard. Just like Lexie. For most of the night his mind had been distracted from thinking about her, which had been a nice change considering the past week, but now his thoughts were brought sharply back to her. It was just a college, where Lexie had gone to med school and Alyssa had gone to law school, at completely different times. It was no big deal.

No big deal. It just felt… strange.

After they left the restaurant, they started walking down the street.

"I had an amazing night," Alyssa said, and Mark couldn't help but agree.

"So did I." He said. "I'll call you, we should do this again."

"Or you could just come back to my apartment?" She asked smirking at him.

"Or we could so that." He chuckled. He thought for a moment about what Callie had said to him.

_Don't sleep with her immediately._

Then he looked at Alyssa, and immediately disregarded the thought. But this was different, right? He felt like there was something real between them, and like he already knew her really well.

* * *

><p>Mark was woken by the buzzing sound of his phone, and he pushed himself into a sitting position. He looked around groggily, confused for a moment at the unfamiliar surroundings.<p>

He looked beside him at Alyssa's sleeping figure, and he quickly realised that he'd unintentionally fell asleep and stayed the night. Quickly grabbing his phone, he turned off the alarm reminding him of his early surgery, so that he wouldn't wake up Alyssa.

He climbed out of bed and changed back into his clothes from the previous night, trying his best to be quiet and not wake her up. He was just about to leave her room when she spoke.

"Leaving without even saying goodbye? At 5.00 in the morning? I wasn't expecting that. Unless you were lying when you said you were going to call me, and you just wanted this to be a one night stand?"

He turned around and smiled at Alyssa who was now sitting up in her bed. "I wasn't lying. I have an early surgery, and I didn't want to wake you." He explained. Mark walked back over to the bed and kissed her lightly. "I really do have to go, though," he said.

"Bye." She smiled at him.


	7. Chapter 7

"Morning, Mark."

Mark grabbed a packet of chips from the vending machine, and turned around to look at Callie. "Morning. What are you doing here so early?"

"I was paged," she said. "But before I left I went over to your apartment because I knew you'd be leaving around the same time."

"I left early." Mark said.

"And you also decided to wear the same clothes as yesterday?" Callie asked sceptically. "What happened to, y'know, _trying _not to sleep with her on the first date?"

"I did try," Mark insisted. "I just wasn't very successful." He smirked at his friend.

"Of course you did," she rolled her eyes. "So, I'm gonna guess that the date went well?"

"Really well, actually. It was amazing." He looked down at his watch. "And I will tell you about it later, because I have surgery."

After coming out of surgery, Mark over to the OR board, and saw Lexie standing there. "Morning," he smiled at her.

"Oh, you're friendly today." She said, wondering if he was just going to walk away again.

"Lexie, can we talk?" He asked.

"So _now_ you want to talk?" Lexie said unsmiling. She could've been a little nicer to him, but she didn't know what gave him the right to act the way that he had in the past week.

"Listen, I shouldn't have acted like that yesterday. It was unfair. Can we please just talk?" He asked.

"Fine," she agreed. "My surgery's been pushed anyway." She said. "Talk away."

"I'm sorry about yesterday." He said. "I won't act like that at work again, I'm going to be professional and friendly."

"And away from work?" She asked. Him being friendly at work was a start at least, because it would make her life a whole lot easier. But that didn't mean that she wanted things to be hard away from the hospital, it would be easier on them both if he didn't feel like he had to avoid her all the time. Derek was his best friend, after all.

"We can't be friends. I'm not going to avoid you anymore, and I'm going to be as civil as I can, but I can't be your friend. Not right now, at least. I guess I haven't moved on quite as much as you have." He said.

"Oh, okay. I understand." She said. He had finally given her an explanation, he was going to be friendly at work, and he wasn't going to avoid her anymore. That was what she had wanted, wasn't it? Then why did she still feel weird about it? Maybe it was just because of the last thing that he had said.

_I guess I haven't moved on quite as much as you have. _

It just made her feel uneasy. She wanted him to be able to be happy with someone else like she was.

* * *

><p>"Today was a good day," yawned Lexie, getting ready to go home. "Back-to-back surgeries, going home to an amazing boyfriend, and Mark isn't acting like an ass anymore. He even seemed like he was in a pretty good mood."<p>

"Yeah, well having a girlfriend will probably do that." Jackson said.

"What?" She asked, looking at him.

"It was something we heard when we were at the nurses station," Alex said shrugging.

"Oh," Lexie said as casually as she could. "That's… good for him." It _was _good, wasn't it? It was what she wanted, for Mark to move on like she had so that things could be normal between them. So that he could be happy? But if that was true, then why did it feel like she couldn't breathe? "I have to… I'll be back soon." She said to Meredith, using all of her strength to not sprint out of the room.

She just had to get out of that room because she really felt like she couldn't breathe, and the last thing she wanted was for Meredith to see that after what Jackson and Alex said. She loved Meredith, but her seeing her freak out at that was bound to make her ask questions. Not that Lexie was freaking out. She wasn't. That was just what Meredith would think.

So Meredith would ask Lexie questions she didn't want to answer, that she probably didn't even know the answer to. Like why it even mattered. It didn't. And even if it did, it was just something that they had _heard. _It was just nurses gossiping, which they did so often that at least half of it wasn't even true. It was just a rumour. But that thought didn't really lessen how she was feeling right now.

Lexie was in such a hurry to get away, she didn't know where exactly, but she just had to get away. She was walking so quickly, more immersed in her own thoughts, that she ran straight into Mark.

"Sorry." She said as they both went to the ground at the same time to pick his chart that had fallen.

"Don't worry about it," he said, getting to the chart first and standing up.

She was about to stand up when she saw a piece of paper on the ground. She grabbed it, and looked down. She saw a number and a name. Alyssa. She stared at it for longer then she would've liked, especially because she could feel Mark's eyes on her. Lexie stood up quickly and passed it to him. He _clearly_ wasn't finding it very hard moving on. "Here you go," she said, walking away before he could say anything.

Mark stared after her, puzzled by her strange reaction. It almost seemed like she was jealous, but that just couldn't be right. Lexie had moved on, she had her boyfriend, so she couldn't possibly be jealous. But then why else would she be acting so strangely?

* * *

><p>"You're home," Felix said when they walked inside. "You've all been working so hard, I thought I'd make you dinner tonight to thank you for letting me stay here." He said.<p>

"Smells delicious," Derek said and Meredith agreed.

"Thank you," Lexie said walking towards him and kissing him. "It's so sweet that you're doing this."

"I'm happy to do it. Besides, even though I'm working now, all I do is write on my computer, and I have to give my leg rest. It feels good to be able to do _something._"

"I forgot how good your cooking is. Derek's right, it smells amazing."

Lexie left him to finish making dinner to go have a quick shower. In the shower, she started thinking about Mark and about Felix. She knew that it meant something how much it had bothered her that Mark had a girlfriend, because she shouldn't feel like that. Felix was amazing. He was smart, sweet, funny, generous, and the fact that he was attractive was an added bonus. He was everything she should want. Everything she did want. But then why did she feel like this?


End file.
